It was also interesting to see a film made in 1926, when the actors (Douglas Fairbanks stared as the "Black Pirate") did most of their own stunts. Special effects were not as sophisticated, but very impressively dreampt up. Today, I believe that there is more sophistication around special effects. This does not necessarily mean that they are "better," just different. The early special effects have a certain appealing draw.
Unfortunately not surprising was the stereotypical depiction of minorities. If I had thought of it at all I would probably have assumed that today's men would be presented as more accepting of racial variation than we would see in a 1926 era film. I still think this may be the case. In this film all male characters, but one, appeared to be white so there was little to no opportunity to observe male interaction within a range of racial/ethnic identification. The one exception being that of a "Chinese" explosives expert (probably played by a Caucasian man) who was horribly portrayed, drawing on every archaic stereotype one can remember and some which are still prevalent.
I also wondered about how the depiction of female gender roles may have changed over the past 84 years. Well, yes, the princess was beautiful, wearing impractical clothes and she spent a lot of time swooning while in near constant need of rescue, protection and care from her elderly servant. And in the end, she was thrilled to discover that her rescuer was not really "just" a pirate, but actually a Duke, and thus marriageable. The film ended with a proper introduction and proposal of marriage, which she gladly accepted. All goals of good and "right" society had been achieved.
The presentation of masculinity, however, surprised me. Good Guy heroes in action films, in my immediate memory, still exhibit a sort of hyper masculinity, tough, cool, lone ranger type personae. My impression of the hero as trope for masculinity, used to perpetuate our adherence to norms of masculinity was that of individualist with access to emotions of anger and aggression and a constant desire for the acquisition of power.
Gender roles are the result of our socialization, so had I given it serious thought, I would have considered that there might be differences in the presentation of a hero 84 years ago as opposed to today, but I didn't give this much thought. Sticking mostly to my assumptions about pirate films, drawn from the few pirate films I've seen and stories I've read, I anticipated a homogeneous "pirate," something along the lines of what I had experienced, but without sound.
Contrary to my assumption Douglas Fairbanks, as the "black knight," expressed a range of emotions beyond blanket hate, anger and revenge peppered with the ubiquitous use of casual violence. He was tender toward his father. Gently embracing, hugging, and cradling his dying father with a level of intimacy which I can not remember seeing from a male hero role in contemporary films. The men appear to stand closer, touch more, share tender eye contact and their dress and genuine mannerisms seemed less aggressively "masculine" by todays expectations.
Toward the end of the film, when the soldiers come to rescue the captured ship and its hostage princess, they swim to the boat. This is not a random, free for all sharply aggressive tackling of the water, churning and splashing as they prowled their way to the boat. No, the swimming scene is reminiscent of a water ballet. The soldiers are in short shorts, criss crossed black straps and sheathed swords. They swim in an under water breast stroke in grid formation as they descend upon the ship. A great deal of time was given to this water scene, conveying its weight and beauty while providing the viewer with plenty of time to appreciate it's graceful beauty. The choreography, like an underwater dance was elegant. This imagery countered my memory of how rescuers are portrayed in modern film.
While there were and are many problems associated with our expectations of masculinity and in the course of the past several decades we have seen much welcome changes in these notions. I wonder if men have lost some aspects of their gendered role which may have been healthy expressions of being human. More specifically I'm thinking of the acceptance of men being tender toward one another and comfortable showing intimacy and care.
These are, of course, my impressions which are based on no actual research into masculine presentation in film and our changing notions of masculinity. All in all I enjoyed the experience and would both see the film again and attend another Alloy presentation.
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